Woman charged in Mystic with leaving child in unlocked, running car

Mystic — Stonington police charged a Gales Ferry woman Friday afternoon after they say she left her 2 1/2-year-old daughter in a an unlocked car with the engine running for 15 minutes.

Police said another shopper at the shopping plaza at 80 Stonington Road across from the Big Y called them at 1:15 p.m. to report that the child was in the car.

Taylor Lee Lavenu, 27, of 1327 Baldwin Hill Road, was charged with leaving a child unsupervised as well as driving an unregistered motor vehicle and driving without a license. She was given a summons to appear in New London Superior Court on Aug. 8. Police said the child was not injured while Lavenu went inside a dry cleaning store.

In recent weeks there have been a flurry of highly publicized incidents locally and across the country in which young children left in unattended cars have been seriously injured or died.